World News - U.S. describes Sunni rebels battling al-Qaida Infighting a plus, general says, but ‘we’re not making allies with anybody’

At least two major insurgent groups are battling al-Qaida in provinces outside Baghdad, American military commanders said Friday, an indication of a deepening rift between Sunni guerrilla groups in Iraq. U.S. officers say a growing number of Sunni tribes are turning against al-Qaida, repelled by the terror group's sheer brutality and austere religious extremism. The tribes are competing with al-Qaida for influence and control over diminishing territory in the face of U.S. assaults, the officers say. The influx of Sunni fighters to areas outside the capital in advance of the security crackdown in Baghdad may have further unsettled the region. "This is a big turning point," U.S. Maj. David Baker said Friday in the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba. "If they are fighting against each other, it's better than them fighting against us." ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Workers on Friday found the bodies of two miners trapped when a wall section collapsed in an open-pit coal mine in western Maryland, a federal mine official said.One body was found in a backhoe the man had been operating Tuesday when the two were buried beneath at least 45 feet of debris, said Bob Cornett, acting regional director for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. The second body was found inside a bulldozer a few hours later, he said.Cornett said the men appeared to have died instantly. "With the extensive damage I saw on the equipment, I don't think that we worried whether they suffocated to death," he said.Both pieces of equipment were spotted Thursday night after workers removed thousands of tons of rock and dirt. The vehicles were found side by side and upright, but the caterpillar tracks normally under the backhoe had been blown sideways and the blade had come off the bulldozer....http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/mine.collapse.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

He calls himself the Antichrist, wears the number 666 tattooed on his arm and claims a following of 2 million people. And Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is coming to Guatemala whether it wants him or not. The Central American country has banned the leader of the Florida-based Growing in Grace church, arguing he is a security risk because he provokes conflict with Roman Catholics and evangelicals. But Miranda still plans to fly in on a private jet Saturday to celebrate his 61st birthday and meet with thousands of followers from around the world. "It has been predestined and angels will make it happen. He is, after all, God himself," said Axel Poessy, Miranda's media director. It is the Puerto Rican-born former evangelical priest's latest attempts to expand his following in Central America. Most of his supporters are in Miami and Colombia, but Miranda holds a congress every year in different locations in the Americas. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18234605/

Commercial seal hunters off the eastern coast of Canada faced food and fuel shortages Friday as their vessels remained stuck in dense ice. "They're getting anxious because some of them have been out for eight or 10 days," said a spokesman for the Canadian coast guard, Brian Penny. "They're running out of supplies and it's a long, slow process to get to them all." The boats were trapped when strong northeast winds generated by a powerful low-pressure system pushed ice toward the coast of northeastern Newfoundland and southern Labrador earlier this week. An easing of the wind Friday morning allowed 10 vessels to make it into port, but Penny said the other 90 boats probably would stay immobilized at least until Saturday. "Conditions are terrible up there with the ice and that," said Ward George, a search-and-rescue coordinator in St. John's, Newfoundland. "So we're just waiting for the wind to change, to ease off on the pressure, and we'll do our work."...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3062303

Spain's governing Socialists are to pass a law declaring the political courts that operated under dictator General Francisco Franco to be illegitimate, thus opening the way for thousands of sentences to be declared null, according to Spanish politicians. Prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government has cleared the way for death sentences and other decisions of military tribunals and special courts to be challenged, Spain's communist-led United Left coalition group announced. A new law will declare Franco's court martials, public order tribunals and courts set up specifically to pursue communists and freemasons as "contrary to the law" and "illegitimate", said the United Left leader, Gaspar Llamazares. That would allow families of victims to ask the supreme court to declare their sentences null and, in turn, seek compensation, said Mr Llamazares. "This is a qualitative leap from impunity towards justice," he said....http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2062315,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

A protracted legal battle for the fortune of Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, loomed yesterday after it emerged that she had ignored her family and charitable interests in a revised will and left her estimated £2.4bn fortune to her feng shui master. Tony Chan Chun-chuen was named as sole beneficiary of a will drafted last October for Wang, who died of cancer on April 3. However, a will from 2002 left the fortune to a charitable trust named after her conglomerate, Chinachem. The trust lodged a legal application, essentially reserving the right to challenge the will. The tycoon, the 154th richest person in the world, cut a compelling figure with pigtails and miniskirts. She had no children, but a brother and two sisters survived her. Some newspapers have reported that the family claim to have a third will....http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2062281,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12